Self-locking railroad spike

ABSTRACT

A railroad spike of generally conventional form provided with a spur which, in the unused position, extends downwardly from the head of the spike parallel with and closely adjacent to the shank of the spike. When the spike is driven in the usual manner, straight down into a wood railroad tie, the spur is diverted away from the shank of the spike due to the cam action which takes place as a result of the beveled form of the remote end of the spur.

United States Patent [191 Walker Sept. 16, 1975 lnven [22] Filed:

tOI'I SELF-LOCKING RAILROAD SPIKE John Walker, 3 l Camino Corto, Walnut Creek,

May 22, 1974 Appl. No.: 467,552

Related US. Application Data abandoned.

[51] Int. Cl. I 1

Continuation of Ser. No. 314,805, Dec. 13, 1972,

US. Cl 238/369; 85/26 EOlB 9/04 Field of Search 238/366, 369, 368, 367; 85/23-27 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Sisk 238/366 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 396,655 2/1909 France 238/369 Primary ExaminerM. Henson Wood, Jr. Assistant ExaminerRich A. Bertsch Attorney, Agent, or Firm hn Walker [57] ABSTRACT A railroa ike of generally conventional form provided wit spur which, in the unused ition, ex-

tends downwardly from the head of the s parallel with and closely adjacent to the shank of the spike. When the spike is driven in the u manner, straight down into a wood railroad tie, spur is diverted away from the shank of the spike due to the cam action which takes place as a result of the beveled form of the remote end of the spur.

1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates t'o'railroad spikes, andmoiie v particularly to a form of spike which'isautomatically self-locking.

Past events and the subsequent inquiries and. investi;

gations into the lack of adequate maintanance of the countries railroad systems has revealed the fact that come loosened due to the vibration set up in the rails by rolling stock passing thereover. This lack of adequate maintenance, and actual cases of sabotage make it imperative that some form of spike be adopted that will resist all efforts to loosen or displace it.

One suggestion to overcome the inadequacies of the conventional spike is disclosed by US. Pat. No. 3,356,300 to Harrel. In this design, the spike has been provided with a series of laterally extending slots on all four sides of the shank. It has been long established that a spike must be formed with a wedge-like or chisel point of a width at least equal to the thickness from side to side of the shank. For the purpose of this description, the side of the spike facing in the same direction as the rail-contacting projection of the head, will be referred to as the front. The reason for the chisel point design of spike is to ensure that, in the process of driving, the grain of the wood of the tie will be completely severed, and that no lateral stresses be set up in the tie that would result in a splitting of the wood. It is obvious that a driven spike will be subjected to compressive forces of some intensity on the back and front faces of the shank. Such forces on the sides of the spike, however, will be virtually nonexistant. In view of this condition, the side grooves of the Harrel spike will be totally inefrailroad spikes of conventional form frequently befective, while any benefit resulting from the provision of the front and back grooves will be entirely dependent upon the moisture content and consequent resiliency of the wood of the tie.

A form of spike disclosed by Sisk in his US. Pat. No. 1,031,878 completely ignores the fact, as stated herein, that no splitting action should take place as a result of driving it. Not only does this requirement render the use of the Sisk spike unsatisfactory, there are two further disadvantages inherent in this design. One of these is due to the fact that the cross grain of a wood tie is arcuate in form, and as a result thereof, one of the Sisk branches cuts through the grain in a generally radial direction while the other branch follows a path tangential thereto. This condition makes it extremely difficult to maintain the desired alignment during the driving operation.

A further disadvantage resides in the fact that the driven form of the spike is less able to resist the side thrust of the rails than is the conventional spike with its deeper penetration.

Briefly but completely stated, it is the object of the present invention to provide a railroad spike which, while retaining all of the features of the presently used conventional spike, also provides an automatic feature which not only locks the driven spike in place, but

which also acts as a brace to further resist lateral disv placement of the rail which it maintains in place.

This and other objects of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description 2 and appendedclaim,tak en .in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a'part hereof.

"H BRIEF (DESCRIPTIOINYOF-THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an elevation of the improved railroad spike.

FIG. 2 is a partial, longitudinal vertical section of a railroad tie illustrating howtthe improved spike appears after, havingbeen driven in place.

FIG. 3 is a transverse section taken on line 3 3 of no.1. A

Referring to the of generally conventional form has been provided with a spural 1, which is attached to the shank of said spike adjacent the head thereof, and which extends downwardly with, and closely adjacent thereto. This spur 11 is preferably shorter than the basic spike and is also somewhat thinner, as it is intended to be non-rigid. A further difference resides in the fact that whereas the basic spike 10 is provided with a chisel point of symmetrical form in accordance with accepted practice, the spur 11 is formed with a chisel point 12 which is beveled on the inside only.

In other respects, the design is along the lines of the conventional spike and the cutting edges of both chisel points are coextensive and in parallel relationship.

In actual test, a spike, formed as described above, was driven into a short length of 4 inch by 4 inch douglas fir. FIG. 2 is an actual full scale illustration of the spike, showing how the spur 11 followed a generally arcuate form path in divergent relationship to that of the basic spike 10 which was driven vertically downward. It should be apparent that this action was due to the fact that the basic, rigid spike established its path before the shorter and thinner non-rigid spur began to pierce the tie. Also, the spike 10, being substantially stiffer than the spur ll, resisted any force which would tend to divert it from its path. The curvature of the spur 1 l, of course, is brought about by the cam action of the divergent bevel 12 at its remote end, and also, being relatively thin, it offers little resistance to the bending force to which it is subjected.

Further tests have been made with pine and redwood, and in all cases'the results have been substantially the same, the path of the spur 11 being mainly established by its thickness and angle of bevel at the point.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have provided a railroad spike which, in its stocked form, is practically the same as that presently in use. It is formed, at its penetrating end, in the accepted manner which prevents splitting of the tie. It is driven in the same way as spikes now in use, however, upon being driven, it assumes a form which is inherently more resistant to loosening or removal. It further provides a brace resulting in an added resistance to lateral rail displacement. Continued use and experience with this spike will undoubtedly establish standard relationships between the individual dimensions of the spike and spur, and while I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of my invention, it should be understood that modifications may be made within the spirit and intent of Title 35, United States Code, Section 112, Paragraph 3.

I claim:

1. A railroad spike of conventional form of the type having a rigid, parallel shank, a head at one end having a rail-contacting projection, and a wedge-like point, having a cutting edge at the other end, the said edge of rawingin detail, a railroad spike 10 the point being normal to the angular direction of the projection of the head; wherein the improvement consists of the provision of a spur attached to said spike at a point below the head thereof and extending downwardly in parallel relationship thereto and terminating adjacent the said wedge-like point of the basic spike. the confronting surfaces of said spike and said spur being separated by an unbroken plane, said spur being provided with a wedge-like point having a cutting edge beveled from the inside only, the edges of both points being in parallel relationship; said spur being of relatively thinner form than the shank of the basic spike, the reduced thickness being parallel to the said edges of the wedge-like points; the two combined elements of the improved spike being so constructed and arranged that the spike, when driven in the usual manner, will penetrate a railroad tie, forming its own straight path normal to the surface thereof with a wedging action only in a direction longitudinal to the tie into which it is driven, while said spur. making its own individual and independent point of penetration, will follow a generally arcuate path in divergent relationship to that of the spike proper, said spur further providing a brace adapted to resist any forces tending to increase the fixed gauge of a railroad track. 

1. A railroad spike of conventional form of the type having a rigid, parallel shank, a head at one end having a rail-contacting projection, and a wedge-like point, having a cutting edge at the other end, the said edge of the point being normal to the angular direction of the projection of the head; wherein the improvement consists of the provision of a spur attached to said spike at a point below the head thereof and extending downwardly in parallel Relationship thereto and terminating adjacent the said wedge-like point of the basic spike, the confronting surfaces of said spike and said spur being separated by an unbroken plane, said spur being provided with a wedge-like point having a cutting edge beveled from the inside only, the edges of both points being in parallel relationship; said spur being of relatively thinner form than the shank of the basic spike, the reduced thickness being parallel to the said edges of the wedge-like points; the two combined elements of the improved spike being so constructed and arranged that the spike, when driven in the usual manner, will penetrate a railroad tie, forming its own straight path normal to the surface thereof with a wedging action only in a direction longitudinal to the tie into which it is driven, while said spur, making its own individual and independent point of penetration, will follow a generally arcuate path in divergent relationship to that of the spike proper, said spur further providing a brace adapted to resist any forces tending to increase the fixed gauge of a railroad track. 